Dow to Add Innovation Center

The center, billed as "state-of-the-art," will support approximately 200 research and development jobs in Michigan, including 100 newly created jobs in addition to 100 jobs that will be repatriated from other Dow facilities throughout the globe to Midland, the chemical giant said in a Dec. 9 press release.

Dow Chemical

The investment serves as the latest example of Dow’s commitment to investing and growing in Michigan’s Great Lakes Bay Region.

Dow’s Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris announced the investment at an event with U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump in December.

“This innovation center will add to Dow’s world-class R&D engine, and could have been located anywhere in the world,” said Liveris.

“We chose Michigan, our home for more than 119 years because of the highly-skilled workforce in the state and because we believe the incoming Presidential administration understands the importance of R&D investment and its multiplier impact on U.S. manufacturing jobs.”

Focus on Technology

The new facility will be focused on combining existing chemistries with new technologies derived from its recent ownership restructuring of Dow Corning’s Silicones business, as well as future technologies, the company added.

Scientists and engineers will focus R&D efforts on advancing technologies for home and personal care products, enhancing and broadening Dow’s energy-saving building technologies, advancing materials for critical infrastructure, and driving closer partnerships with automakers, Dow relates.

The investment serves as the latest example of Dow’s commitment to investing and growing in Michigan’s Great Lakes Bay Region, according to the company. Over the last decade, Dow and its regional development partners, have driven more than $400 million of investment and downtown economic redevelopment in the Great Lakes Bay Region, home to the company and its nearly 13,000 employees and contractors.

The company still plans to merge with chemical rival DuPont as part of a $130 billion deal, but the agreement has not yet cleared regulatory hurdles. A Dow spokeswoman recently told Michigan Radio that the companies remain “focused on closing the transaction” and expect the deal will close in the first quarter of 2017.